Author Archives: R.P. Churchill

HTML5 Canvas Issue: Half-Pixel Offset

Posted on February 10, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

One of the issues I encountered when working with the HTML5 canvas element was the issue of pixel alignment. I made sure that the only size definition was given in the HTML declaration for the image itself as in:

… Continue reading →

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Javascript HTML5 Canvas Pour Demo

Posted on February 9, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

When Bricmont was purchased by Inductotherm in 1996 I was charged with maintaining the product Inductotherm used to control its induction melting furnaces. During a lull some time later I worked up a little demo program in Delphi that could … Continue reading →

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Missing the Point

Posted on February 8, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

A recent dinner companion shared a story of his management’s plan to ensure continuing maintenance and viability of a large and rather old mainframe system he supports for a government agency. His specialty is writing, maintaining, and modifying assembler code … Continue reading →

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Theory and Practice, Practice, Practice

Posted on February 4, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

To know and not to do is not yet to know. This idea has been attributed to many sources. Let’s assume it is essentially Buddhist. The same idea is expressed below in terms of neuroscience. These items are saying that … Continue reading →

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Lack of sleep() in Javascript

Posted on February 3, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

I get it. I really do. Javascript is intended to work in a (mostly) single threaded way and allowing it to sleep could gum things up tremendously. Reading that and similar links has been beneficial and I’ll be making time … Continue reading →

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Simulation: Continuing Yesterday’s Analysis

Posted on February 2, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

Yesterday I analyzed some of the considerations involved in modeling a section of a petrochemical refining process, namely that of hydrodesulfurization. That is adding hydrogen to hydrocarbons containing sulfur in the presence of a catalyst at an elevated temperature so … Continue reading →

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Simulations: What Gets Modeled And What Doesn’t

Posted on February 1, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

When I’m not flogging away at code these days I’m thinking about continuous simulations and the details that get modeled within them. Specifically I’ve been reading about and thinking about operations in petrochemical refineries, and even more specifically certain classes … Continue reading →

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Zoot Suits and Not-So-Bad-Dancing

Posted on January 28, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

I started swing dancing in 2001, during the tail end of the craze that started around the time of the 1998 Gap Commercial (famous among other things for popularizing the 3D still pan effect also prominent in the seminal sci … Continue reading →

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Multiple Paths To Victory

Posted on January 27, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

With the release of the game Settlers of Catan in 1995, German inventor Klaus Teuber unleashed a product popular enough to introduce Americans to the Eurogame style of tabletop gaming. Per the Wikipedia entry, “A Eurogame, also called German-style board … Continue reading →

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“The Secret of Selling Anything,” by Harry Browne

Posted on January 26, 2016 by R.P. Churchill

Today I took the time to finish reading a classic book on sales by Harry Browne, entitled The Secret of Selling Anything. I read it because it is regarded as a classic in certain circles, because I have appreciated many … Continue reading →

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